As the shine comes off NZ Labour, Grant Robertson hopes his budget can steady the ship

In the first pre-budget speech last week, Robertson provided a glimpse of what budget 2022 will entail: big spending on health and the environment, new commitments on borrowing limits and debt targets and a goal to look at long-term spending over short-term cash injections.

It is also third budget to be overshadowed by Covid. But unlike the past two years, where the government was buoyed up by its success in managing the pandemic, and extraordinary popularity, this year the shine is fading and its spending will be scrutinised more intensely as a result.

Still, finance ministers tend to under-promise and over-deliver on budget day, he says.